Wednesday, April 30, 2008

American Idol Top 5

Alright, we're nearing the end of this season and already I'm scratching my head. Face it, with some amazing singers this year, it baffles me that our last five is not exactly how I envisioned it to be. Shoo-ins like the two David's are no brainers, but how'd Brooke or Jason stay for so long is beyond me. Jason at least has a comfortable fan base, but Brooke has neither the jumbo crowd or the talent to beat Carly last week, or Sayesha for that matter. That said, here's my top 5 for the moment on the diminishing batch of Idol hopefuls.

5.) Jason Castro
I have to admit I was a bit charmed with him in the first few weeks. Sure his range seemed glue to the same spot, but his songs were natural and pleasant enough. But weeks upon weeks of that same baby-blue eyes and the same tone, this man is all about the same everything. And long after the charm's worn off, he is proving himself to be a man afraid of risks and a man afraid of trying to better himself, as seen in the latest Neil Diamond episode. Unfortunately I predict he'll be here a while, he's amassed quite a bit of a fan base for himself and until he really really messes up, he's ultimately safe, which is just about how every single one of his songs has been.

4.) Brooke White
If it was up to me, I'd put Brooke and Jason in the exact same spot. She has absolutely no range or flexibility in her songs whatsoever. What she does, those vulnerable and emotional songs, she does well enough, and I was pleasantly surprised for the first few performances. But like Jason she grows old way fast, and even her pleasant chirpy personality's wearing off. After several throwbacks at the judges, it's like revealing the serpent under the kitty skin. How she outlasted Carly, who has way more talent, is beyond me. It has also been apparent that for the last few weeks she has been slowly, but surely, been falling apart. Her rendition of "I'm a Believer" was just god awful. The only reason she barely edges out Jason is that she at least tries a bit of variety. I emphasize the "a bit" part, and trying it doesn't mean she pulls it off.

3.) Sayesha Mercado
Fortunately the trail of talent starts with Sayesha. I was instantly amazed at her performance in Hollywood week where despite losing her voice, she gave a commendable and brave performance. Although the novelty has worn of slightly with some female singers slowly edging her out, she has been solid at least as one of my favorite female performers. Now that she has found her calling at mixing in some theatrical flair in her performances, she has great opportunity to start climbing up that ladder fast. And the fact that major female rival Carly has been edged out. But judging by last week's popularity-based result, she might not even get the chance to start her "Dark Horse" race. If there was justice in the world, she should at least survive long enough to be given a chance at uprooting the two David's. And if not, well sadly it is no real surprise.

2.) David Archuletta
Neil said it perfectly. This man-- er boy, is a bit of a prodigy. At the tender age of seventeen, this kid has been singing songs way past the normal cut-off for that age. The maturity aside, he also has a kind, humble and pleasing personality that outlasts all the other Brooke/Jason crap. It shows too, with him having the hugest fanbase among all the Idols. But unlike Jason, he deserves it. His voice is incredible, and he has been fairly consistent with quality. While each performance is not always amazing, it never stoops to plain out bad. He is number two in this list, but that is mostly due to inexperience rather than anything else. He is also the only one among the Idols to have had at one point or the other made all three judges say that he was the man to beat in this competition. Now that's something.

1.) David Cook
I did not see this guy coming. With one David dubbed an early favorite and the other getting attention for all the wrong reasons, this David was shunned and overshadows for several weeks. With his amazing voice and flexibility I wonder why I didn't notice him before, I wonder why nobody noticed him before. But after spending a week in the bottom three, he has since upped his game and it shows. Every performance is a risk for him, with him changing the entire set-up to match his style, which is so far the most distinctive among the idols. Through sheer determination he has risen for "Nobody" to "Overshadowed" to "Dark Horse" and now to "Real Contender". The reason why he beats out the other David, whom I adore to hell, is that aside from some real kick-ass vocals, this man is fearless and every time he aims for the best he can bring on. While it may not always work, it is amazing when it does. And more than anything, he symbolizes what a recording artist should be like. He's a star already.


Monday, April 28, 2008

Bohol and Cebu Travel Log!!!

BOHOL AND CEBU!!!

Alright, it's been a while since I've written anything here, already I can hear the scrape of spiders spewing out cobwebs from their asses. Shoo you!

If anything, I've wanted to do one here of another movie review (Yes, say it with me... "ANOTHER movie review!?" *roll eyes*). But bear with me alright? Anyway, I'm loosening up a bit, taking off my shirt, well maybe not that much, but I am deviating from my overly complicated and collar-tight insights on the vernacular world of silver screen productions. In other words, I'm jacking off a while from it till another time. And here I have here is a pretty lengthy and boooooring account of my trip to Bohol. None of you want to read this, it's long, it's boring and it has nothing to do with you. So if you continue past this paragraph, consider yourself warned and spanked. So stop reading now... go on... stop.... no? Alright, don't say I didn't warn you.

You see, we didn't pay for these trips, our last one in Palawan was the same thing. We, along with two teachers (Rhoda and Joy *Joy's the guy by the way and the other's the gal*), were supposed to accompany my cousin, who is a very special kid. No really he is, but he's also the most lovable boy in the world, not to mention already inches above me in height (curse you God of the Hypothalamus!!!). Oh and he loves airplanes... No, he reeeaaallly loves airplanes. He has a vocabulary of about a hundred words, the very first of which was "airplane".

Anyway, we flew to Tagbilaran, Bohol in Cebu Pacific at the 5:30 flight. So it was crappy start. I was sleepy and tired, we took taxi in which we got ourselves a full set of Barangay bodyguards, and we flew in an economic and cheapskate plane that rocked your comfortability zone all the way to null.

After getting down on the shabby little airport, we paid of the driver assigned to us cause he's little Tamaraw Fx couldn't hold all eight of us. We got another, wasted no time and were off.

First stop was the Blood Compact statue. For those of you who aren't keen on your Philippine History, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi was the conquistador who first established here a colony back in 1565. In Bohol, he performed a Blood Compact with Datu Sikatuna as a sign of friendship. It was a statue. So what?

Next was this amazing old church. And when I say old I do mean ooold. Its practically a museum. Then there was a man-made forest. No, we didn't build it with our own hands, but three generations of locals have been tending it until it grew to this beautiful thick forest. The tree placements are a bit too symmetrical to be natural, but it's stunning nonetheless.

But after that was the big daddy of Bohol, yes that's right. The Chocolate Hills, one of the country's entries into the contest for the new 7 Natural Wonders of the world. And I must say, I'm kind of disappointed. No, not the hills, but how much they showed us. With over a thousand of these beautiful hill formed from millions of years worth of grounded coral, we were only treated to a few handful. I wanted to really see the rest, but what we were treated to was astounding nonetheless. I couldn't help but walk to the cliff edge and take a few snapshots of these mounds. Oh, and some were really brown, but hey looked more like sh$^* than chocolate. It was beautiful though....

We were then left on a TWO hour river cruise on the Loboc. The food was crap and the trip waaay too long. But the views we saw was second only to the hills.

After that, well there really wasn't much to do after that. All that is except to see the Tarsiers, and that's what we saw. We weren't really allowed to touch or poke them or anything, but a bill palm slip into a trainer's hand got us an exlusive picture taking opportunity at the back, away from the owner's eyes. Those little critters were adorable, being the world's smallest primate, I just wanted to squish it in my hand!!!... well in a, err, non-violent manner...

We then hopped on a 2 hour ferry boat that would take us all the way to Cebu. It was noisy and clanky, plus they were showing a very pirated copy of Jumper and some Kareoke tunes. In other words, it was torture.

Upon arriving in Cebu, and some miscommunication with a couple of cabs, we finally got to the hotel, Golden Peak, where the reservation failed to give us the connecting room we wanted so we got upgraded to family suites. And for family suites they were awfully small.

We got lost looking for the dinner place, Smoking Grill, but once there the food more than made up for lunch's awful taste. They were local and they were definitely filled with flavor.

Next day we travelled to Sto. Nino Basilica where due to the sheer number of people we had to hear mass from the garden O_o. We saw the little statue again, said a little prayer. And while the Visayan mass went on I roamed the garden taking shots of everything I could find. We donated some money for mass, I offered one for Jansen. Then we left for the museum where my mom left her Sto Nino medal (she left her novena there three years ago and we saw it on display there).

Back at the hotel, we ate breakfast, checked out and took two taxis in a loooong trip to Mactan where the anniversary of The Battle of Mactan was being celebrated with Pacquiao himself playing Lapu-Lapu. Of course, by our luck, the taxi left us a preety long distance off. After a tedious walk under the noon sun, we arrived there to find the party over. Oh well, that was a waste. And for those of you not aware, Lapu- Lapu was the native sultan who defied Ferdinand Magellan and killed him in the Battle of Mactan. The surviving Spaniards of that trip returned to make world history. It's partly the man's fault anyway. He deployed 48 men on a mission gains 1,500. What in the world was he thinking?

After that, we made a quick tour of the remaining parts of Cebu. From the Guitar making shop to Cebu's own Intramuros, a Fort de San Pedro. Then there was a quick tour of the city, some of the old houses, some of the older houses and finally some of the reeeally old houses. More than anything else, it was practically a mini-Manila. We even saw its own version of Beverly Hills before visiting a Taoist Temple for a "quick" prayer.

After everything was said and done, we settled that night with a set of Burger McDo's and Big Macs and we traveled home with Philippine Airlines, which was much more comfortable than Cebu Pacific. Well, I suppose that's a quick gist of it all, and I'm off for the night. Until next time where I go back to my movies and maybe a little game here and there. Chao!